Wondering if you could help me..

You could try Oblivion, if you can handle the idea of an open-ended RPG where you can totally ignore the Main Quest, and role-play as you like. Only thing is, most new to the game miss a lot of what it has to offer, such as it is infinitely customizable (DLCs, player-made mods,community patches). And it's not all hack-and-slash, it depends upon what you do and where you go (the AI has a lot of curves within it). A lot of times there are ways around that.

The Longest Journey is a point and click adventure game. Don't know about the sequel, though.... never played it.

F.E.A.R falls into the story intense shooter catagory, although the plantinum pack that has the orginal with the two Sierra expansions, is near impossible to find, now. Used to be a good deal at 20 bucks. http://www.gogamer.com/F-E-A-R--Platinum-for-PC-Front-Page_stcVVproductId24813292VVcatId444710VVviewprod.htm Can't comment on Fear 2, haven't played it.No one lives forever 1 & 2 were pretty good, I thought. Don't know if you can still find them, though.

Witcher falls into the jade Empire/KOTOR/Mass Effect/Bloodlines type of game. Although...the story progression mechanics is fairly predictable in it. After playing all the games you've already played. Although it's still has pretty cool choice dialog system being that all the choices are not so much black and white but grey and grey'er. Neverwinter Nights2, also falls into that category.... And Fallout 3. But the choices are the typical extremely evil or extremely goodwith those two, for the most part.

You may want to give Homeworld series a try. Consisting ofHomeworld, Homeworld Cataclysim, and Homeworld 2. It's a RTS, but the storytelling is engaging.

Psychonauts - Based on what you described, it's a must play if you haven't. You can play it free now on Gametap. Didn't think it was my type of game at first from the looks of it, but absolutely loved it. Another game to try is Braid.

You've probably played it, but the Prince of Persia trilogy is great action adventure and required for all fans of the genre. Same goes for Tomb Raider and Hitman.

RPG is a little more tricky for you. RPG is synonymous with PC in my book and I don't consider playing them on a console. To each their own. Anyway, the recent best are Neverwinter Nights 2 and The Witcher. The Witcher might be a little more up your alley. (by the way, I hear ya on Oblivion)

I could name you several great strategy games, as it's my favorite genre. It's a shame you not into it. Good Stuff

Oh...I'll second The Longest Journey and TLJ: Dreamfall (sequel). Best adventure game ever.

As for your overall query, I think what your doing right now is one of your best ways of finding good games to play. I found several games I enjoyed just by perusing this forum even. Otherwise, I look at critic and user reviews. I find user reviews very helpful - and not so much the scoring but reading what users write, the good writers that is, to get a feel for the gameplay.

EDIT: Oh yeah...one of the best story driven RPGs is Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR).

you played Half Life 1, ever try HL2?

Braid? It sounds so, so vaguely familiar. I'll look it up. As well as Psychonauts. It looked like an incredibly quirky game. The only fault I've found with quirky games (insofar) is that they're unnaturally short, and leave me feeling a little disappointed. Tried Tomb Raider once, when I was much younger. Don't remember it being my cup of tea, though I might enjoy the newer ones. Also - what's Hitman like? I kind of brushed it off as a regular sort of shooter. The Witcher is good, though I'm stuck in it. My progression is so sluggish I'm wondering whether or not I'm playing it right. Starwars KoToR was absolutely fantastic. It's a shame the second one wasn't nearly as good. Especially the ending - what exactly was that supposed to be? Whoops, we didn't have time to give you a real ending, so we'll sort of tell you what sort of happened next? :?Aurora-Storm

Ha...totally agree with you on KOTOR II. In fact, that was the basis for my review of it here. It was very good up to a point and the ending was just WTF.

Braid is a short little quirky game but very different and challenging. Something to pick up maybe at a discount for a change of pace. Psychonauts is a very highly rated game that didn't sell way when it first came out, but just about everyone who plays it, loves it. I thought it was a satisfying length for the type of game it is and..heck..it's free.

Neverwinter Nights is quite different from Oblivion and a true D&D Computer RPG. It's made by the same company as KOTOR and on the same engine. Pretty good story in the vanilla and first expansion. It will last you quite a while.

Tomb Raider: Legend is free too on Gametap. It's the first of the newer Tomb Raiders and pretty good.

Hitman is a stealth action adventure in which you take contracts for hire to asssassinate folks. The interesting thing is it's setup up to in such a way that you can try to go full stealth or gun ablazing, or a balance of both. In a way, the scenarios are kind of like puzzles.

Have you played the Prince of Persia triilogy?

I enjoy Oblivion on occasion, but unfortunately the open-endedness of it sacrifices elements I most desire in games - character-driven story, involving quests, etc. I hate the fact you can talk to someone twice (even once) and be completely done with that character. That being said, I downloaded a companion mod (Ruined Tale) and have enjoyed it more since.Aurora-Storm

That's good to hear. You chosea good mod. I'm running around 70 mods myself, which has both fixed a great deal as well as adding a ton of new quests. For example, Kvatch is comletely rebuilt in my Oblivion, and I wind up becoming Count Kvatch. I could even run an evil character more easily, as I have a functional Necromancers Guild. The Elder Council is fully manned, and I can join the Imperial Legion.

Tried Mafia?

Definitely Psychonauts! As for Prince of Persia.. to be honest I've been holding a silly grudge against it for quite a while.. they got all of Ubisofts advertising for the majority of their run, so Beyond Good and Evil, a most fantastic game, my favorite second only to Mass Effect, got the short end of the stick. No one knew about it, and it was supposed to be a trilogy. However, I can let go of that silliness now, since they're finally coming out with the second game. Now. For Prince of Persia, can I start in the middle, or would you recommend trying to find the games in order?Aurora-Storm

I hope you enjoy Psychonauts.

Beyond Good and Evil was a good game and it's a shame it wasn't marketed better. However, POP was a bit of a landmark game prior to that and has been around in earlier forms for a good 20 years or so. It isn't necessarily critical to play the trilogy in order, but I recommend doing so anyway. Sands of Time is a true classic and holds up very well today, Warrior Within has a significant change in tone but the combat is the best of the series, Two Thrones is kind of a marriage of the first two games. Oh...and the new Prince of Persia is a departure in many respects. You might actually like it although it is not near as good as the trilogy. You could play the new Prince of Persia first with no bearing on the trilogy, but the trilogy is a must play.

POP probably compares best to Tomb Raider in the sense of adventure/puzzles/acrobatics, with more emphasis on better combat.